Psalms 10:4

Psa 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek [after God]: God [is] not in all his thoughts.

Ver. 4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance] That is, of his heart, appearing in his countenance, as a master pock in his forehead. For pride buddeth, Eze 7:10; the pride of Israel testifieth to his face, Hos 5:5; the thoughts are oft seen in the countenance; and the heart is printed upon the face, Isa 3:9. It is a hard thing, saith one, to have a brazen face and a broken heart.

Will not seek] He thinks it not necessary or worth the while; and his practice is agreeable, that is, naught all over. Pride in the soul is like a great swelling in the body, which, besides that it is a dangerous symptom, unfits it for any good service; and is apt to putrefy and to break, and to run with loathsome and foul matter. So doth pride disable the soul from doing duty, and at last breaketh forth into odious deeds, abominable to God and men. It is observed, that the ground whereon the peacock useth to sit is by that occasion made exceeding barren; so where pride roosteth and reigneth, no good groweth.

God is not in all his thoughts] God is neither in his head, as here, nor in his heart, Psa 14:1, nor in his words, Psa 12:4, nor in his ways, Tit 1:16; he is wholly without God in the world, Eph 2:1-3, he studies atheism, and all his thoughts are, There is no God, so this text may be read, he would fain so persuade himself.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_10:4

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God.

The wicked, from pride, refuse to seek God

In this Psalm we have a full-length portrait of a careless, unawakened sinner, drawn by the unerring pencil of truth. Two of the features which compose this portrait are delineated in our text.

1. An unwillingness to seek after God.

2. Pride, which causes that unwillingness.

I. The wicked will not seek after God. They do not, because they will not. To this purpose they obstinately and unalterably adhere, unless their wills are subdued by Divine grace.

1. The wicked will not seek after the knowledge of God. This is evident from Scripture statement, and from the experience of all ages. The wicked will not pray for the knowledge of God, nor improve their opportunities for acquiring the knowledge of God.

2. The wicked will not seek the favour of God. Knowing nothing experimentally of His excellence and perfections, and ignorant of their entire dependence on Him for happiness, they cannot of course realise that the favour of God is life, and His loving kindness is better than life.

3. The wicked will not seek after the likeness of God. That they do not at all resemble Him is certain. They do not wish or endeavour to resemble Him. There is, indeed, in their view, no reason why they should. There are but two motives which can make any being wish to resemble another. A wish to obtain the approbation of the person imitated; or admiration of something in his character, and a consequent desire to inscribe it into our own. But the wicked can be influenced by neither of these motives to seek after conformity to God.

4. The wicked will not seek after communion with God. Communion supposes some degree of resemblance to the being whose communion is sought, and a participation of the same nature, views, and feelings.

II. The reason why the wicked will not seek God.

1. Pride renders God a disagreeable object of contemplation to the wicked, and a knowledge of Him as undesirable. Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of ones self. It is therefore impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master.

2. The pride of the wicked prevents them from seeking the knowledge of God, by rendering them unwilling to be taught. Pride is almost as impatient of a teacher as of a master.

3. Pride renders the wicked unwilling to use the means by which alone the knowledge of God can be acquired. It renders them unwilling to study the Bible in a proper manner. Pride also renders the man unwilling to pray. And it prevents him from improving public and private opportunities for acquiring religious instruction. The pride of the wicked will not allow them to seek after the favour or the likeness of God. It makes them unwilling to seek after communion with God.

Reflections--

1. How evident it is that salvation is wholly of grace, and that all the wicked, if left to themselves, will certainly perish.

2. How depraved, how infatuated, how unreasonable do the wicked appear!

3. How foolish, absurd, ruinous, blindly destructive of its own object does pride appear! The subject may be applied for purposes of self-examination. (E. Payson, D. D.)

The pride of man restrains seeking after God

Christianity made but few converts amongst the disciples of Zeno. Why should it have been so? With their simple and self-denying habits, why were they not attracted by the purer morals of the Gospel? and with their superiority to the surrounding superstitions, why did they not hail that unknown God whom Cleanthus had sung, and whom Paul now preached? The answer we fear is to be found in that little word pride--that little word which is still so great a hindrance to many wise men after the flesh. Amongst the Greeks and Romans the Stoics occupied the same place as the Pharisees amongst the Jews. The very foundation of their theory was to make the virtuous man self-sufficing, and usually they got so far as to make him self-sufficient. In cutting off all other vices the Stoic, like the cynic before him, fostered to enormous magnitude pride or self-complacency, and, as Archer Butler says in his Ancient Philosophy, sought not so much to please the Deity as to be His equal. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)

God is not in all his thoughts.

The sinfulness of forgetting God

A characteristic mark of the ungodly man. Forgetfulness of God is the concealed spring from which the evil and bitter streams of outward wickedness derive their origin.

I. What is intended by having God in all our thoughts. It is not meant that we should have our meditations constantly and invariably fixed upon God. Nor that the most pious and spiritual state of mind will disqualify a man for transacting the proper business of his station. We are here reminded of the necessity of an abiding and habitual impression of our obligations and accountableness to God. The text implies that we should take God as our portion, and expect our highest and best happiness from Him. Whatever it be from which a man expects his chief good, to that his thoughts naturally revert whenever he is not compelled to fix them upon some other object. It will be the favourite topic of his meditations.

II. The consequence of the want of this principle. The man described here is one who lives in a state of habitual forgetfulness of God; acts without an abiding sense of his obligation and accountableness to Him; lives to please himself, rather than Him who made him. This state of mind is the very thing that leads to every act of gross outward sin. Conclusion:

1. Learn not to be satisfied with ourselves, because men approve of us. They cannot at all look at our motives.

2. If, in order to our being approved of God, it is necessary that we should have such a constant regard to Him, is it not clear that the retrospect of our lives will show us that we have been lamentably defective in His sight? Our subject may remind us of our exceeding sinfulness, and of our need of the mercy and grace of God as revealed in the Gospel of His Son. (T. Scott, MA.)

Who are the wicked

The text says that God is not in their thoughts.

1. This is because of practical atheism. God is put out of the way by various theories. One makes the world ten thousand years old, and another ten million. The Bible is sneered at as an old, antiquated book.

2. Ignorance of Gods character is another reason why God is not in mens thoughts. We, as sinful and blinded creatures, cannot justly comprehend a holy God. Even Christs disciples but poorly comprehended Gods character as revealed in Christ. Much more in the case of the sinner is it true that God is not in his thoughts on account of the blindness of sin. Justice and holiness are obscured.

3. A misconception of their own moral condition follows. They lose sight of God because they are not awake to their own ill-desert.

4. Another reason why God is not in the wicked mans thought is because of absorption in the things of the world. The demands of business should be met, but those of God are not to be forgotten. Men know that there is a future life, though some may argue against it. The Sabbath is given as one preparative. (J. H. Hamilton, M. D.)

The place where God is not

God is everywhere, and yet the verse tells us where He is not--in the thoughts of wicked men. This is--

1. A notorious fact. Millions live day by day as if God were not.

2. An astounding fact. It is unnatural, impious, calamitous. Why, then, is God not in their thoughts?

I. Negatively.

1. It is not because there can be any doubt as to the importance of thinking of God.

2. Nor because there is any lack of means to remind men of Him. All things are full of Him.

3. Nor because of the unbroken regularity of the material world. In heaven, where there is the same regularity, their minds ever delight in Him.

4. Nor because man has no consciousness of restraint in action. But all holy souls are equally free.

II. Positively. The cause is in the heart.

1. Fear--the guilty conscience.

2. Dislike; hence men exclude God from their thoughts. Learn, the appalling wickedness of man, and his need of Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

A searching description of the wicked

The heart of the wicked is the only place in the creation of God whence, if we may so speak, the Creator is banished. Inquire--

I. Into the causes of such a state of mind. They penetrate deeper than may at first sight appear. It is nothing temporary or accidental that causes the forgetfulness of which the Psalmist complains; the evil is general and radical. It has its source in our original apostasy; it extends to us all by nature; no man is free from its influence. Subordinate to this primary and leading cause there are individual causes which, though but results of the former, become in their turn new and fruitful causes of the same effect. The constant pressure of worldly concerns, even when lawful, tends to banish God from our thoughts. But mere inattention is not the whole cause why God is not more in the hearts of men. They wilfully and deliberately banish Him from their thoughts. They are anxious to forget Him. And the reason is that they do not truly love God. What we love is always welcome to our thoughts.

II. Into the evils resulting therefrom. In fact, all the vice that exists among mankind arises from their not having God in their thoughts. Did men seriously think upon God they would not dare to sin as they too often do.

III. Into the method of overcoming this unhappy state of character.

1. Learn to contemplate the Almighty in the magnitude of His terrors,

2. Let us view God in the abundance of His love. (Christian Observer.)

A discourse on habitual devotion

It is characteristic of a good man that he sets the Lord always before him, whereas it is said of the wicked, God is not in all their thoughts. This seems to furnish a pretty good test of the state of a mans mind with respect to virtue and vice. The wicked man is a practical atheist. The good man sees God in everything, and everything in God. An habitual regard of God is the most effectual means of advancing us from the more imperfect to the more perfect state. Recommend this duty by an enumeration of its happy effects.

1. An habitual regard to God in our actions tends greatly to keep us firm in our adherence to our duty. It has pleased Divine Providence to place man in a state of trial and probation. This world is strictly such. God has placed us under laws. We are certainly less liable to forget these laws, and our obligation to observe them, when we keep up an habitual regard to our great Lawgiver and Judge, when we consider Him as present with us.

2. An habitual regard to God promotes an uniform cheerfulness of mind. It tends to dissipate melancholy and anxiety.

3. Fits a man for the business of this life, giving a peculiar presence and intrepidity of mind, and is therefore the best support in difficult enterprises of any kind. Consider the most proper and effectual methods of promoting this temper of mind.

(1) Endeavour to divest your minds of too great a multiplicity of the cares of this world;

(2) Do not omit stated times of worshipping God by prayer, public and private;

(3) Omit no opportunity of turning your thoughts to God;

(4) Never fail to have recourse to God upon every occasion of strong emotion of mind;

(5) Labour to free your minds of all consciousness of guilt and self-reproach;

(6) Cultivate in your minds just ideas of God. (J. Priestley, LL. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 4. The proud boastings and lewd blessings of the wicked have been received in evidence against him, and now his own face confirms the accusation, and his empty closet cries aloud against him.

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. Proud hearts breed proud looks and stiff knees. It is an admirable arrangement that the heart is often written on the countenance, just as the motion of the wheels of a clock find their record on its face. A brazen face and a broken heart never go together. We are not quite sure that the Athenians were wise when they ordained that men should be tried in the dark lest their countenances should weigh with the judges; for there is much more to be learned from the motions of the muscles of the face than from the words of the lips. Honesty shines in the face, but villainy peeps out at the eyes. See the effect of pride; it kept the man from seeking God. It is hard to pray with a stiff neck and an unbending knee.

God is not in all his thoughts: he thought much, but he had no thoughts for God. Amid heaps of chaff there was not a grain of wheat. The only place where God is not is in the thoughts of the wicked. This is a damning accusation; for where the God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reigning and raging; and if God be not in our thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to perdition.

Ver. 4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. He is judged a proud man (without a jury sitting on him), who when condemned will not submit, will not stoop so low as to accept of a pardon. I must indeed correct myself, men are willing to be justified, but they would have their duties to purchase their peace and the favour of God. Thousands will die and be damned rather than they will have a pardon upon the sole account of Christ's merits and obedience. Oh, the cursed pride of the heart! When will men cease to be wiser than God? To limit God? When will men be contented with God's way of saving them by the blood of the everlasting covenant? How dare men thus to prescribe to the infinitely wise God? Is it not enough for thee that thy destruction is of thyself? But must thy salvation be of thyself too? Is it not enough that thou hast wounded thyself, but wilt thou die for ever, rather than be beholden to a plaister of free grace? Wilt be damned unless thou mayest be thine own Saviour? God is willing ("God so loved the world that he gave his only Son"), art thou so proud as that thou wilt not be beholden to God? Thou wilt deserve, or have nothing. What shall I say? Poor thou art, and yet proud; thou hast nothing but wretchedness and misery, and yet thou art talking of a purchase. This is a provocation. "God resisteth the proud, "especially the spiritually proud. He that is proud of his clothes and parentage, is not so contemptible in God's eyes as he that is proud of his abilities, and so scorns to submit to God's methods for his salvation by Christ, and by his righteousness alone. Lewis Stuckley.

Ver. 4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. The pride of the wicked is the principal reason why they will not seek after the knowledge of God. This knowledge it prevents them from seeking in various ways. In the first place, it renders God a disagreeable object of contemplation to the wicked, and a knowledge of him as undesirable. Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of one's self. It is, therefore, impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master. In proportion as it prevails in the heart, it makes us wish to see nothing above us, to acknowledge no law but our own wills, to follow no rule but our own inclinations. Thus it led Satan to rebel against his Creator, and our first parents to desire to be as gods. Since such are the effects of pride, it is evident that nothing can be more painful to a proud heart than the thoughts of such a being as God; one who is infinitely powerful, just, and holy; who can neither be resisted, deceived, nor deluded; who disposes, according to his own sovereign pleasure, of all creatures and events; and who, in an especial manner, hates pride, and is determined to abase and punish it. Such a being pride can contemplate only with feelings of dread, aversion, and abhorrence. It must look upon him as its natural enemy, the great enemy, whom it has to fear. But the knowledge of God directly tends to bring this infinite, irresistible, irreconcilable enemy full to the view of the proud man. It teaches him that he has a superior, a master, from whose authority he cannot escape, whose power he cannot resist, and whose will he must obey, or be crushed before him, and be rendered miserable for ever. It shows him what he hates to see, that, in despite of his opposition, God's counsel shall stand, that he will do all his pleasure, and that in all things wherein men deal proudly, God is above them. These truths torture the proud unhumbled hearts of the wicked, and hence they hate that knowledge of God which teaches these truths, and will not seek it. On the contrary, they wish to remain ignorant of such a being, and to banish all thoughts of him from their minds. With this view, they neglect, pervert, or explain away those passages of revelation which describe God's true character, and endeavour to believe that he is altogether such a one as themselves. How foolish, how absurd, how ruinous, how blindly destructive of its own object, does pride appear! By attempting to soar, it only plunges itself in the mire, and while endeavouring to erect for itself a throne, it undermines the ground on which it stands and digs its own grave. It plunged Satan from heaven into hell; it banished our first parents from paradise; and it will, in a similar manner, ruin all who indulge in it. It keeps us in ignorance of God, shuts us out from his favour, prevents us from resembling him, deprives us in this world of all the honour and happiness which communion with him would confer; and in the next, unless previously hated, repented of, and renounced, will bar for ever against us the door of heaven, and close upon us the gates of hell. O then, my friends, beware, above all things, beware of pride! Beware, lest you indulge it imperceptibly, for it is perhaps, of all sins, the most secret, subtle, and insinuating. Edward Payson, D.D., 1783-1827.

Ver. 4. David speaks in Ps 10:1-18 of great and potent oppressors and politicians, who see none on earth greater than themselves, none higher than they, and think therefore that they may impune prey upon the smaller, as beasts use to do; and in the fourth verse this is made the root and ground of all, that God is not in all his thoughts. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. The words are diversely read, and all make for this sense. Some read it, "No God in all his crafty presumptuous purposes; " others, "All his thoughts are, there is no God." The meaning whereof is not only that among the swarm and crowd of thoughts that fill his mind, the thought of God is seldom to be found, and comes not in among the rest, which yet is enough for the purpose in hand; but further, that in all his projects and plots, and consultations of his heart (the first reading of the words intends), whereby he contrives and lays the plot, form, and draught of all his actions, he never takes God or his will into consideration or consultation, to square and frame all accordingly, but proceeds and goes on in all, and carries on all as if there were no God to be consulted with. He takes not him along with him, no more than if he were no God; the thoughts of him and his will sway him not. As you use to say, when a combination of men leave out someone they should advise with, that such a one is not of their counsel, is not in the plot; so nor is God in their purposes and advisings, they do all without him. But this is not all the meaning, but farther, all their thought is, that there is no God. This is there made the bottom, the foundation, the groundwork and reason of all their wicked plots and injurious projects, and deceitful carriages and proceedings, that seeing there is no God or power above them to take notice of it, to regard or requite them, therefore they may be bold to go on. Thomas Goodwin.

Ver. 4. Of his countenance. Which pride he carrieth engraven in his very countenance and forehead, and makes it known in all his carriages and gestures. Will not seek, namely, he contemneth all divine and human laws, he feareth not, respecteth not God's judgments; he careth for nothing, so he may fulfil his desires; enquires after, nor examines nothing; all things are indifferent to him. John Diodati.

Ver. 4. All his thoughts are, there is no God; thus some read the passage. Seneca says, there are no atheists, though there would be some; if any say there is no God, they lie; though they say it in the daytime, yet in the night when they are alone they deny it; howsoever some desperately harden themselves, yet if God doth but show himself terrible to them, they confess him. Many of the heathens and others have denied that there is a God, yet when they were in distress, they did fall down and confess him, as Diagoras, that grand atheist, when he was troubled with the strangullion, acknowledged a deity which he had denied. These kind of atheists I leave to the tender mercies of God, of which I doubt it whether there be any for them. Richard Stock.

Ver. 4. God is not in all his thoughts. It is the black work of an ungodly man or an atheist, that God is not in all his thoughts. What comfort can be had in the being of God without thinking of him with reverence and delight? A God forgotten is as good as no God to us. Stephen Charnock.

Ver. 4. Trifles possess us, but God is not in all our thoughts, seldom the sole object of them. We have durable thoughts of transitory things, and flitting thoughts of a durable and eternal good. The covenant of grace engages the whole heart to God, and bars anything else from engrossing it; but what strangers are God and the souls of most men! Though we have the knowledge of him by creation, yet he is for the most part an unknown God in the relations wherein he stands to us, because a God undelighted in. Hence it is, as one observes, that because we observe not the ways of God's wisdom, conceive not of him in his vast perfections, nor are stricken with an admiration of his goodness, that we have fewer good sacred poems than of any other kind. The wits of men hang the wing when they come to exercise their reasons and fancies about God. Parts and strength are given us, as well as corn and wine to the Israelites, for the service of God, but those are consecrated to some cursed Baal, Ho 2:8, like Venus in the poet, we forsake heaven to follow after some Adonis. Stephen Charnock.

Ver. 4-5. The world hath a spiritual fascination and witchcraft, by which, where it hath once prevailed, men are enchanted to an utter forgetfulness of themselves and God, and being drunk with pleasures, they are easily engaged to a madness and height of folly. Some, like foolish children, are made to keep a great stir in the world for very trifles, for a vain show; they think themselves great, honourable, excellent, and for this make a great bustle, when the world hath not added one cubic to their stature of real worth. Others are by this Circe transformed into savage creatures, and act the part of lions and tigers. Others, like swine, wallow in the lusts of uncleanness. Others are unmanned, putting off all natural affections, care not who they ride over, so they may rule over or be made great. Others are taken with ridiculous frenzies, so that a man that stands in the cool shade of a sedate composure would judge them out of their wits. It would make a man admire to read of the frisks of Caius Caligula, Xerxes, Alexander, and many others, who because they were above many men, thought themselves above human nature. They forgot they were born and must die, and did such things as would have made them, but that their greatness overawed it, a laughing stock and common scorn to children. Neither must we think that these were but some few or rare instances of worldly intoxication, when the Scripture notes it as a general distemper of all that bow down to worship this idol. They live "without God in the world, "saith the apostle, that is, they so carry it as if there were no God to take notice of them to check them for their madness. God is not in all his thoughts. Ps 10:4. The judgments of God are far above out of his sight; he puffs at his enemies (Ps 10:5), and saith in his heart, he shall never be moved, Ps 10:6. The whole Psalm describes the worldling as a man that hath lost all his understanding, and is acting the part of a frantic bedlam. What then can be a more fit engine for the devil to work with than the pleasures of the world? Richard Gilpin.

Ver. 4. Pride the barrier in the way of conversion.

Ver. 4. (last clause). Thoughts in which God is not, weighed and condemned.

Ver. 4-5. See Psalms on "Ps 10:4" for further information.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 10:4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance — By which he scorns to stoop to God, or to own any superior, but makes himself his last end, and his own will and lust his only rule; and is full of self-confidence and a conceit of his own self-sufficiency and permanent felicity. He says the pride of his countenance, because, though pride be properly seated in the heart, yet it is manifested in the countenance; will not seek after God —

Will not seek and inquire into the mind and will of God, that he may order his life according thereto, so as to please God; nor will he seek to him by prayer for his favour and blessing. The words, after God, however, are not in the Hebrew, and may be omitted, and then the sense will be, He will not search, or consider, namely, his actions; will not trouble himself to inquire whether they be just or unjust, pleasing or offensive to God; but, without any care or consideration, rushes into sin, and does whatever seems right in his own eyes. God is not in all his thoughts — He hath no serious thought of, nor regard to, God, or his word, which ought to govern him, nor his threats or judgments, which should keep him in awe. Or, as the Hebrew may be rendered, All his thoughts are, There is no God, namely, no such God as minds the affairs of the world and the actions of men, or that punishes sinners. “The psalmist hath here given us the true character of an ungodly man. By a long disuse of devotion, and open neglect of divine worship, he gradually forgets every duty he owes his Maker; and when he has for some time habituated himself to live without God in the world, he then begins to doubt his very existence; he then begins to forget that in him we live, and move, and have our being.” See Dodd and Delaney.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:4 God is dead: See 10:11; 14:1.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The face expresses the self-conceit, whose fruit is practical atheism (Psa 14:1).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Will not seek after God] He is too proud to bend his knee before his Judge; he is too haughty to put on sackcloth, and lay himself in the dust, though without deep repentance and humiliation he must without doubt perish everlastingly.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. The ungodly, in the pride of his countenance, etc Others translate the words, The ungodly man, by reason of the violence of his anger, or, in the pride which he displays, does not inquire after God. But this partly perverts the meaning, and partly weakens the force of what David intended to express. In the first place, the word inquire, which is here put absolutely, that is, without any noun which it governs, is, according to this translation, improperly limited to God. David simply means, that the ungodly, without examination, permit themselves to do any thing, or do not distinguish between what is lawful and unlawful, because their own lust is their law, yea, rather, as if superior to all laws, they fancy that it is lawful for them to do whatever they please. The beginning of well-doing in a man’s life is inquiry; in other words, we can only begin to do well when we keep ourselves from following, without choice and discrimination, the dictates of our own fancy, and from being carried away by the wayward propensities of our flesh. But the exercise of inquiring proceeds from humility, when we assign to God, as is reasonable, the place of judge and ruler over us. The prophet, therefore, very properly says, that the reason why the ungodly, without any regard or consideration, presume to do whatever they desire, is because, being lifted up with pride, they leave to God nothing whatever of the prerogative of a judge. The Hebrew word פף, aph, which we have translated countenance, I have no doubt is here taken in its proper and natural signification, and not metaphorically for anger; because haughty persons show their effrontery even by their countenance.

In the second clause, the prophet more severely, or, at least, more openly, accuses them, declaring that all their wicked imaginations show that they have no God. All his devices say, There is no God The sentence in the Hebrew text is elliptical, and hence it has been variously translated. Literally it is, “No God all his thoughts.” The Syriac version renders it, “There is no God in all his thoughts.” The Septuagint reads, Οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς ἐνώπιον αὐτου, “God is not before him.” Mudge renders it, “No God is all his wicked politics;” Horsley, “No God is the whole of his philosophy.” and Fry, “There is no Elohim is all his thought.”

“Qui nous le fait avoir en reverence et nous tient le subjets.” — Fr.

“Pour meschantes et malicieuses pensees.” — Fr. “Wicked and malicious thoughts.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(4) The wicked.—The Authorised Version has quite missed the meaning of this verse. Translate, the wicked in his haughtiness (literally, height of his nostril. Comp. the common expression, ‘to turn up one’s nose at a person’) saith He will not requite it (i.e., punish; comp. Psa_10:13). There is no God in all his thought. (Comp. Psa_14:1; Psa_53:1.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. The A.V. follows the Ancient Versions in rendering, ‘the wicked … will not seek after God:’ but a comparison of Psa_10:13, which clearly recapitulates Psa_10:3-4, is decisive in favour of rendering as follows:

As for the wicked, according to the loftiness of his looks, he saith, He will not make requisition:

There is no God, is the sum of his devices.

The construction is abrupt and forcible. The wicked man’s scornful countenance is the index of his character (Psa_101:5); all his devices (as Psa_10:2) are planned on the assumption that God does not regard and punish (Psa_9:12); upon a virtual atheism, for such an epicurean deity, “careless of mankind,” would be no ‘living and true God.’ Cp. Psa_14:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God,.... We supply it, "after God"; as do the Targum and Kimchi on the place: the sense is, he will not seek to God for counsel or assistance, he will not pray unto him; which is the character of every unregenerate man, Rom 3:11; or, he will not inquire into the will of God, to know what is right or what is wrong, but will do what seems best in his own eyes: and this arises from the pride of his heart, which shows itself in his countenance, in his proud and haughty look. It is said of the little horn, who is antichrist, that he has a look more stout than his fellows, Dan 7:20. The words may be rendered, "the wicked inquires not into the height of his anger"; so Ainsworth observes; that is, of God's anger; he is not concerned about it; he neither fears God nor regards men. Jarchi's sense of the words is,

"all his thoughts say unto him, God will not inquire into everything that I shall do, for there is no judgment.''

God is not in all his thoughts; nor in any of them, for they are evil continually; and if he does at any time think of him, his thoughts of him are wrong; he thinks he is altogether such an one as himself: or, "all his thoughts are, there is no God" (z): though he does not choose to say so, he thinks so; at least, he wishes it may be so; and he works himself into such impiety and atheism as to deny the providence of God, and thinks that he does not govern the world, nor concern himself with what is done below; that he takes no notice of men's actions, nor will call them to an account for them; and that there will be no future state or judgment, in which secret as well as open things will be made manifest: or, as the Chaldee paraphrase glosses it, "that all his thoughts are not manifest before the Lord".

(z) "non Deus, omnes cogitationes ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Muis; "nullum esse Deum hae sunt omnes cogitationes ejus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Ainsworth.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance - In consequence of his pride; or, his pride is the reason of what is here stated. The “pride of his countenance” is a phrase that is used because pride shows itself mainly in the countenance, or in a lofty air and manner. The design is to state the influence of pride in producing the effect here specified.

Will not seek after God - The phrase “after God,” is supplied by our translators. Something clearly is to be supplied, and it is plainly something relating to God - either that the wicked man will not seek after God in prayer, or that he will not inquire after the proofs of his existence and attributes; or that he will not seek after his favor, or that he will not endeavor to know the divine will. All this would be implied in seeking after God, and this is undoubtedly the state of mind that is referred to here. The sinner is unwilling, in any appropriate way, to acknowledge God.

God is not in all his thoughts - Margin, “Or, all his thoughts are, There is no God,” Psa 14:1. The literal translation is: “No God (are) all his thoughts.” The margin has undoubtedly expressed the meaning better than the translation in the text, since the spirit of the passage is not that the sinner had no thought of God, but that he thought wrong. The fact that he would not seek God, and that he had said that God had forgotten Psa 10:11, shows that he had some thoughts of God. The language here is properly expressive of belief or desire; either that all his thoughts were that there is no God, i. e, that such was the result of all his meditations and reasonings on the subject; or that he wished that it might be found to be so. The language will admit of either construction, and in either sense it would express the thoughts of the wicked. Its both a matter of practical belief, and as a matter of desire, the language of the wicked is, “No God.” The wicked wish that there were none; he practically believes that there is none. The entire verse, then, expresses the prevailing feelings of a sinner about God:

(a) That he wishes there were none, and practically believes that there is none; and

(b) that the reason or ground of these feelings is pride. Pride will prevent him from seeking God in the following ways:

(1) It makes him unwilling to recognize his dependence upon any being;

(2) it makes him unwilling to confess that he is a sinner;

(3) it makes him unwilling to pray;

(4) it makes him unwilling to seek aid of anyone, even God, in the business of life, in the prosecution of his plans, or in sickness and affliction;

(5) it makes him unwilling to accede to the terms of reconciliation and salvation proposed by God, unwilling to repent, to believe, to submit to His sovereignty, to acknowledge his indebtedness to mere grace for the hope of eternal life.

Pride is at the root of all the atheism, theoretical or practical, on the earth; at the root of all the reluctance which there is to seek the favor of God; at the root, therefore, of the misery and wretchedness of the world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Through the pride; by which he scorns to stoop to God, or to own any superior, and makes himself and his own lusts his only rule, and his last end, and is full of self-confidence, and a conceit of his own self-sufficiency and unchangeable felicity, as is hated, Psa 10:6.

Of his countenance; so called, because though pride be properly seated in the heart; whence it is called pride, or loftiness of heart, or spirit, as Psa 131:1; Pro 16:18; Ecc 7:8, &c.; yet it is manifested in the countenance, and therefore is oft described by lofty looks, as Psa 101:5; 131:1; Pro 6:17; 21:4; 30:13, &c.; which possibly was done purposely to meet with the excuses of proud persons, who when they are charged with pride for their looks, or gestures, or apparel, or the like, use to make this apology for themselves, that pride lies in the heart, and not in these outward things.

Will not seek after God, i.e. not seek or inquire into the mind and will of God, to order his life by it so as to please God, nor seek to him by prayer for his favour and blessing. But the words

after God are not in the Hebrew, and it is thought by some too great boldness to add them here. And therefore others omit it, and render the Hebrew words, will not search, or consider, to wit, his actions, which seems to be a more natural and, easy supplement: he will not trouble himself to inquire whether his actions be just or unjust, pleasing or offensive to God; but without any care or consideration rusheth into sin, and doth whatsoever seemeth right in his own eyes. But these and the former words are and may be, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew, thus rendered without any supplement,

The wicked, through his pride, ( for so this Hebrew word by itself signifies, Isa 5:16; 10:33) will not seek his (i.e. God’s, which is plain both from the foregoing and following words) face, which is a usual phrase in Scripture, as 2Ch 7:14; Psa 24:6; 27:8; 105:4, &c.

God is not in all his thoughts; he hath no serious thoughts of nor regard unto God, or his word, which ought to command him; or his threats and judgments, which should keep him in awe. Or,

all his thoughts are, There is no God, to wit, no such God as minds the affairs of the world, and the actions of men, and punisheth sinners. He was a deist, and owned a God, at least in words, but denied his providence.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. Will not seek—He takes no pains to inquire if there be a God, or a moral government which holds men accountable.

Thoughts—Devices, schemes. In all his plans he makes no account or recognition of God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. The construction is concise to abruptness, and it is hard to determine the ellipses. The passage in the original runs thus: "The wicked, in the height of his scorn will not require no God all his thoughts." Of the various attempts to supply the ellipses, and obtain a satisfactory sense, the following (that of the "Speaker"s Commentary") is probably the best: "As for the wicked in the height of his scorn will not require is no God such are all his thoughts." (Compare the Revised Version, which is not very different.) The general sense is that his pride conducts the wicked man to absolute atheism, or at least to practiced atheism (comp. vers. 11, 13).

Man"s thoughts.

I MAN HAS THOUGHTS. He can direct his mind to the past, the present, the future. He can speculate as to the manifold things that come before him and affect his interests. It is his glory that he can think; it is his shame that he so often thinks foolishly.

II MAN"S THOUGHTS DEPEND UPON HIS MORAL CONDITION. We are creatures of feeling. What is uppermost in our hearts will be uppermost in our thoughts. The good man has good thoughts, the evil man evil thoughts. Change the character of the heart, and you change the character of the thoughts. (Pro_12:5 Pro_15:26 Mat_12:33)

III WHEN THE MORAL DISPOSITION IS CORRUPT, THE TENDENCY IS TO EXCLUDE GOD FROM THE THOUGHTS. The plan, the labours, the enjoyments of life are too often without God. (Luk_12:19, 20 Jam_4:13) This is irrational, criminal, and ruinous. W.F. (Psa_146:4)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Countenance - So called, because though pride be properly seated in the heart, yet it is manifest in the countenance.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

4. A wicked (man), according to his pride, will not seek. There is no God (are) all his thoughts. Pride is here expressed by one of its outward indications, loftiness of look, or as some suppose the Hebrew phrase to signify originally, elevation of the nose.—Will not seek, i.e. seek God in prayer (Psa 34:4), or in the wider sense of worship (Psa 14:2), or in that of inquiring the divine will (Gen 25:22), all which religious acts are at variance with the pride of the human heart.—All his thoughts, not merely his opinions, but his plans, his purposes, which is the proper meaning of the Hebrew word. The language of his life is, that there is no God.—Another construction of the first clause is as follows. The wicked, according to his pride (says), He, i.e. God will not require, judicially investigate and punish, as in Psa 9:13 (12), and in Psa 10:13 below, where there seems to be a reference to the words before us, as uttered by the wicked man himself. —A third construction thus avoids the necessity of supplying says. —'As to the wicked in his pride—He will not require, there is no God—are all his thoughts." This may be transferred into our idiom as follows: All the thoughts of the wicked in his pride are, that God will not require, or rather that there is no God. In favour of the first construction given is the fact that it requires nothing to be supplied like the second, and does not disturb the parallelism of the clauses like the third. Common to all is the imputation of proud self-confidence and practical atheism to the sinner.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The wicked man

This refers here to wicked people in general. AT: "the wicked person" (See: Generic Noun Phrases)

has a raised face

A raised face represents pride or arrogance. AT: "has an arrogant attitude" or "is proud" (See: Metaphor)

he does not seek God

Seeking God represents either 1) asking God for help or 2) thinking about God and obeying him. AT: "he does not ask God for help" or "he does not think about God" (See: Metaphor)

He is secure at all times

"He is safe at all times." He is not really safe, but he thinks that he is.

your righteous decrees are too high for him

Something that is hard to understand is spoken of as if it were too high to reach. AT: "he cannot understand your righteous decrees" (See: Metaphor)

he snorts at all his enemies

People snort at their enemies when they think that their enemies are weak and worthless. AT: "he thinks that all his enemies are weak and worthless" or "he sneers at all his enemies" (See: Symbolic Action)

he snorts

This means that he blows air out noisily through his nose.

translationWords

God

righteous

decree

adversary

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

A wicked man at the height of his anger When he is haughty, and he lifts up and holds his face erect, and his anger is at its height.

He will not seek All his thoughts tell him, “The Holy One, blessed be He, will not seek anything that I may do because there is no judgment.”

there is no God There is no judgment, and there is no judge.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

The wicked according to the loftiness of his looks (lit. nose): – The loftiness of the heart displays itself in the face, and the face is indicated by the nose (אף), for it is high upon the face, as (1 Sam 20:41), “and fell on his nose (לאפיו),” where the meaning is on his face;“ and bowed to him nose (אפים) to the earth” (Gen. 42:6), where the meaning is faces.

doth not (seek) God: – Because of his haughtiness and pride he does not seek God, neither does he pray to Him.

All his thoughts are, There is no God: – All the thoughts of the wicked and his calculations are: that there is no God judging in the earth, and everything which man pleases to do let him do, for there is none to seek (require), and none to search it out, therefore he does not seek God.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.